Toby Alderweireld admits Manchester United pose a different threat second time around for Tottenham

Spurs thrashed United 3-0 earlier in the season but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revitalised them since the sacking of Jose Mourinho

Tottenham Hotspur are braced for a much-improved Manchester United at Wembley on Sunday afternoon, according to Spurs defender Toby Alderweireld.

United have a bad record at Spurs in recent years, and lost 3-0 to them at Old Trafford at the start of this season. But they are revived under the new leadership of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, having won all five games under his management, revitalising players who looked miserable under Jose Mourinho.

This Sunday United go to Wembley to play third-placed Tottenham, for the biggest test of the Solskjaer era yet. And the Spurs players know that they will be facing a very different United team from the one they turned over at Old Trafford back in September.

“Of course we know they will be in a better moment than they were before,” Alderweireld admitted on Tuesday night, in the aftermath of Spurs’ hard-fought 1-0 win over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. “We know they have very good players and a very good team. Quality, with some special players. So we have to be tough to beat them. But we can be confident and prepare ourselves the best we can to be ready for them.”

One player who has been especially refreshed by recent events is Romelu Lukaku. At times he looked lost under Mourinho and only scored six goals in 22 appearances for Mourinho in the first half of this season. But since Solskjaer replaced Mourinho, Lukaku has scored three in three.

Alderweireld will be tasked with marking Lukaku on Sunday afternoon but he knows better than anyone just how good the former Everton man is. Not least because the pair have played together for the Belgium national team for years. Alderweireld acknowledged Lukaku’s recent improvements, and said that he has been so consistent over his six and a half seasons as a Premier League regular that people take for granted how dangerous he is.

“He scores so many goals all the time that people get used to it,” Lukaku said of Alderweireld. “If for a period he does not score or things do not go his way, of course, he plays for a big team in the Premier League so everybody expects a lot of him. But he is coming back to form. He is an unbelievable striker. I have played with him in the national team for a couple of years and he is a great person, too.”

Spurs can strengthen their Premier League position with a win on Sunday and as they enter the serious end of the season, Alderweireld said they are determined to achieve something “special” this year. “We are doing very well, although we can do better,” Alderweireld said. “We have a hungry group who wants to play well and beat big teams. We want to do something special and that is normal. That desire is what you can see on the pitch. You see it every season we are out there. There is still some room to improve, though.”